The present invention relates generally to data storage systems for handling and storing data storage media devices such as data cartridges, and more particularly to a modular data storage system having an expandible vertical lift mechanism.
Data storage in the computer industry is accomplished in a number of ways. For example, data may be stored on various data storage media devices such as tapes, compact disks, xe2x80x9cfloppyxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9chardxe2x80x9d disks, and the like. Oftentimes, data storage media which is transferrable from one location to another is housed within a parallelepiped-shaped cartridge. It is to be understood that the term xe2x80x9ccartridgexe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cdata cartridgexe2x80x9d as used in the present application encompasses any data storage media device, whether or not it is housed within a cartridge.
Data storage systems are used to store data cartridges at known locations and to retrieve desired cartridges so that data may be written to or read from the cartridges. A typical data storage system may include different types of cartridge receiving devices. For example, one type of cartridge receiving device is a cartridge storage rack or xe2x80x9cmagazinexe2x80x9d which has a plurality of individual cartridge storage locations. Another type of cartridge receiving device is a cartridge read/write device or xe2x80x9cdrivexe2x80x9d. A data storage system may also include a cartridge handling assembly for retrieving data cartridges and translating them among cartridge receiving devices (e.g., from a cartridge storage location to a drive and vice-versa).
Data storage systems may be produced in a variety of sizes and configurations. One type of data storage system has a guide track extending along the length of a central vertical shaft. A data cartridge handling assembly or xe2x80x9cpickerxe2x80x9d assembly is vertically displaceable along the track and is adapted to move data cartridges between cartridge receiving devices positioned adjacent to the central vertical shaft in vertically stacked layers or tiers. In some storage systems of this type all components are provided in a single housing unit. In other storage systems of this type a plurality of modular housing units are stacked one on top of the other to provide a compound housing assembly. In a compound housing assembly each modular housing unit contains a portion of the vertical shaft and one or more of the tiers of cartridge receiving devices of the data storage system. Such an assembly of modular units is disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/137,350 filed Aug. 20, 1998 of White, Jones, and Lester for MODULAR DATA STORAGE SYSTEM, Attorney Docket No. 10971954-1, which is hereby incorporated for all that it discloses. An advantage of an integral data storage system having multiple vertically stacked tiers over multiple, independent, single tier units is that it obviates the need to coordinate the operation of multiple systems. Also, unnecessary duplication of certain system components, such as drives and pickers, is avoided.
In the data storage system disclosed in Ser. No. 09/137,350 referenced above, the picker assembly is moved vertically by drive force applied from a motor which is mounted and displaceable with the picker assembly.
Other data storage systems are disclosed in the following patents and patent applications, each of which is specifically incorporated herein by reference for all that it discloses: U.S. Pat. No. 5,101,387 dated Mar. 31, 1992 (Ser. No. 298,388 filed Jan. 18, 1989) for LATERAL DISPLACEMENT CONTROL ASSEMBLY FOR AN OPTICAL DISK HANDLING SYSTEM of Mark E. Wanger, Jennifer L. Methlie, Donald J. Stavely, and Thomas C. Oliver; U.S. Pat. No. 5,455,810 issued Oct. 3, 1995 (Ser. No. 254,049 filed Jun. 3, 1994) for FLEXIBLE MEMBER TENSIONING APPARATUS of Robert Luffel; U.S. Pat. No. 5,544,146 issued Aug. 6, 1996 (Ser. No. 90/004,454 filed Nov. 14, 1996) for CARTRIDGE HANDLING SYSTEM of Robert W. Luffel, D. Scott Paul and Jon D. Rugg; U.S. patent application (Ser. No. 09/179,793 filed Oct. 27, 1998) for MAIL SLOT DATA CARTRIDGE EXCHANGE SYSTEM FOR USE WITH A DATA STORAGE SYSTEM of Nicholas D. Thayer, Robert W. Luffel, David P. Jones, and Mark A. Smith; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/271,550 filed Mar. 18, 1999 for METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR EXCHANGING DATA CARTRIDGES IN A JUKEBOX DATA STORAGE SYSTEM of Robert L. Mueller, Paul C. Coffin, and Robert W. Luffel; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/257,322 filed Feb. 25, 1999 for DATA CARTRIDGE EXCHANGE APPARATUS of Robert L. Mueller, David P. Jones, Robert W. Luffel, and Mark A. Smith.
The present invention may comprise a data storage system having a plurality of vertically stacked modular housing units. Each modular housing unit includes a plurality of data storage media receiving devices. The system also includes a data storage media handling device adapted to laterally displace media between the media receiving devices. The system has a vertical lift mechanism attached to the data storage media handling device which is adapted to vertically displace the handling device along a vertical displacement path extending adjacent to the vertically stacked modular housing units. The vertical lift mechanism includes a drive motor fixedly positioned with respect to the modular housing units and a linkage mechanism connected between the drive motor and the handling device.
The invention may also comprise an expansion kit for a data storage system which includes an original plurality of vertically stacked modular housing units, each modular housing unit comprising a plurality of data storage media receiving devices; a data storage media handling device adapted to laterally displace media between the media receiving devices; and an original vertical lift mechanism attached to the data storage media handling device and adapted to vertically displace the handling device along a vertical displacement path extending adjacent to the vertically stacked modular housing units and comprising a drive motor fixedly positioned with respect to the modular housing units and an original linkage mechanism connected between the drive motor and the handling device. The expansion kit may include at least one additional modular housing unit connectively stackable with the original vertically stacked housing units and a linkage mechanism replacement unit having a configuration dependent upon the number of modular housing units in the data storage system and operably connectable between portions of the original vertical lift mechanism when the additional modular housing unit(s) is/are operably stackably connected with the original vertically stacked modular housing units.
The invention may also comprise a method of expanding a data storage system such as described in the previous paragraph comprising: vertically stackingly adding a modular housing unit to the original plurality of vertically stacked modular housing units; and replacing the original linkage mechanism with a replacement linkage mechanism having a different length.